


Not Leaving It At That

by erroetcresco



Series: What Staring Leads To [4]
Category: Class of 198x (Web Series), The Creatures | Cow Chop RPF
Genre: M/M, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-07
Updated: 2017-11-07
Packaged: 2019-01-30 13:06:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12654129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erroetcresco/pseuds/erroetcresco
Summary: James comes to Aleks looking to pass out.(Takes place after From The Highs Come The Lows)





	Not Leaving It At That

**Author's Note:**

> I still don't know very much about the 80's.

After marching away from James’ house, Aleks resolved to ignore the man. The best thing he could do was pretend the whole thing didn’t matter to him in the slightest, and hope that Steve didn’t enlist his friends to fuck up his life. Every time he saw James at school, he forced his eyes to slide right past him. Staring was what had gotten him into this mess to begin with, he wasn’t going to start it all up again. No, he stuck to the group of guys he got high with and tried not to be disappointed when he cracked a joke James would have laughed himself stupid over, but here only earned blank stares. It seemed like Steve was appeased, and moved on with his life; he ignored Aleks completely. A couple of weeks past, day by day, till things felt mostly normal again. 

On a Friday afternoon, Aleks leaned over to take a joint being passed around, when one of the guys nudged him. Aleks glanced at him, already taking a hit. The guy nodded his head forward, and Aleks looked in the gestured direction. He almost dropped the joint, and his stomach sank like he had swallowed a bag of gravel. James was walking towards the group, hair down around his shoulders and hiding part of his face. Not only had James not tried to talk to him since Aleks had walked away, but he also didn’t walk like this - head down, shuffling slightly. He normally kept his chin up, the picture of confidence. James stopped in front of the group, and cleared his throat at the awkward silence that fell over them. 

“The fuck do you want?” One of the guys asked. 

“Yeah, man. You did our boy dirty,” another chimed in. Aleks leaned back against the wall he was sitting against, and took another hit, secretly touched. He didn’t consider these guys friends, but hey, maybe he needed to rethink that. James didn’t even glance at the guys, didn’t answer them. He just stared down at Aleks, frowning. Aleks exhaled the smoke through his nose, trying to seem unconcerned, but James had his hair down, soft curls cascading over his shoulders, and Christ, he licked his lips before he tried to talk, and Aleks’ stomach sunk just a little more. It’d be easier to hate James if Aleks wasn’t so preoccupied with how good he looked. 

“I’m looking for something that’ll knock me out,” James said, and stuffed his hands into his pockets. His voice was hoarse. “Painkillers, valium; I don’t care.” Aleks cocked an eyebrow. James had always gone for uppers, drugs that exaggerated his already large personality. Even after the couple of joints they had split, Aleks would be hard pressed to consider James ‘chill’, he just seemed a little louder, looser. Aleks stood up, dusting himself off, and passed off the joint. 

“You’ve got, fuckin’, nerve, asking for-” He started, but James cut him off. 

“Aleks,” he said, and the way he said it was sharp and sure. He had cash in his fist, held out towards Aleks. “I’m paying for it, like everyone else. Leave it at that. Please.” Aleks looked at the cash, then to James’ carefully constructed blank expression, then down to the group smoking around him. Finally, he signed. Alright, maybe he had a soft spot, still, but god damn it, it wasn’t like he was forgiving him. He was making a sale - and James had said please, and meant it.   
“Got your car?” Aleks asked. He plucked the cash from James’ fingers and counted it quickly. He shoved it into his backpack, then slung it over his shoulder. 

“Yeah, why’s that matter?” James asked. 

“Cause they’re at my house, asshole,” Aleks said, and started walking towards the parking lot. He let his shoulder knock against James as he passed, making his hostility evident to contrast the fact he was taking James to his house. He didn’t want James getting the wrong idea - not that he even knew if that mattered. Maybe he was fine with whatever fling they had was over, maybe he realized how stupid it was, and that’s why he told Steve. Aleks shook his head to clear the thoughts - this wasn’t something he could think about with James right there. 

“Where to?” James asked, finally breaking the silence, when they climbed in the car. Aleks gave directions in short, clipped sentences. 

“How many people are you buying for? This isn’t gonna buy a lot,” Aleks said, crossing his arms across his chest. James didn’t take his eyes off the road. 

“Just me,” He said, and Aleks hummed in response. That wasn’t like James. He didn’t just do drugs out of boredom, he did them for fun. This, though? This seemed off, made Aleks uncomfortable. When they pulled up in front of the two story house Aleks called home, he realized James had never been here. It didn’t compare the James’ house - Aleks and his dad weren’t exactly struggling, but it wasn’t like James. They didn’t have a housekeeper, and people to do the yard work. At least there wasn’t a car in the driveway - he could be glad that at least his dad wasn’t there. 

“Come on,” Aleks grunted, and slammed the car door shut after him. James winced. 

“Come on, man, you don’t have to take it out on the car,” he said, and for half a second, Aleks almost snarked back, cracked a joke, but then he remembered, and kept quiet. Instead, he shoved his key into the lock. He shouldered the door open. James followed him in, looking around. The place was clearly a bachelor pad, with stacked up pizza boxes, and one too many empty beer cans on the counter. 

“It’s...nice,” James said, and Aleks didn’t even recognize his tone. It was like he was trying to be polite, possibly for the first time in his life. It twisted the thorn in his chest that had been there since James had walked away while Steve had punched him. He ignored it in favor for starting up the stairs. 

“In there,” Aleks pointed at his shut bedroom door, before making his way to the master bathroom in his dad’s room He didn’t normally sell his dad’s quaaludes, it wasn’t worth the beating he would get if he got caught. Aleks paused, before unscrewing the cap. There was something about the way James had asked for them, saying please, wanting to be knocked out - he didn’t want to turn him down. He dumped a couple into his hand, and placed the bottle back into the medicine cabinet, Hopefully his dad just wouldn’t notice. He turned and left the bathroom. 

James was standing awkwardly in the middle of his room, not seeming to want to touch anything. 

“Here,” Aleks said, and dropped the pills into James’ hand, once he reached out. “That’s one for now, and one for whenever you want. Can you swallow it dry, or do I need to get you a fucking drink, too?” Just like that, he’d said it, he couldn’t take it back. 

“No, I got it. What do you mean one now?” James asked, turning the pills over in his fingers.

“You ever had a quaalude before?” Aleks asked, already knowing the answer. James shook his head, confirming it. Aleks toed off his shoes and flopped down on his bed. “Then you’re gonna take one now so I can make sure you don’t choke on your own tongue. The first times gonna be the strongest, and if your lawyer parents find you dead cause of my drugs, I’m gonna get fucked.” Yeah, that was logical. He definitely wasn’t worried about the weird mood James was in. 

“And you gave me two, because?” James asked. 

“You paid me for two, dickweed, now shut up and take it.” Aleks snapped. He leaned over and fiddled with the radio, watching out of the corner of his eye while James stared down at the pills in his hand. Finally, he stuck out his tongue, pressed a pill there, and swallowed. Aleks turned up the volume, and gestured towards his room. “Get comfortable. You’re gonna knock out, like you wanted.” 

“Thanks” James said, and his voice was soft. It didn’t suit him, almost pissed Aleks off more. He sat down in the desk chair, and, despite Cyndi Lauper crying that girls wanted to have fun, the silence between them was pretty heavy. 

“I’m gonna get a beer,” Aleks volunteered after a bit, mostly because he didn’t want to sit here in this silence anymore. 

“Can I have -” James started, but Aleks shook his head. 

“You’re gonna be fine without, buddy,” He said, and shut the door after him. He cringed. Buddy? Fucking buddy? What the hell was he doing? Selling his dad’s pills - which, he had done before, but it was risky - just because James wanted some? Aleks dragged a hand down his face, awkward stubble rubbing against his palm. He hadn’t been keeping up with his appearance as closely as he had when he’d been messing around with James. Aleks made his way down to the kitchen and opened the fridge, pulled out a beer. He cracked it open, took a sip, and looked around. He might as well take his time down here, it was better than sitting up there and trying not to stare at James. He set his beer down and started putting together a couple of sandwiches. At least when he got back up there, the quaaludes would have James fucked up to a state that he could be comfortable with. He could just lean back and listen to some music, make sure James doesn’t suffocate himself in his own sleep, and try not to think about the fact he had James over in the first place. 

But as he tossed the knife he was using to spread mustard onto the bread into the sink, he let himself worry for just a second. Nothing about today matched well with the James he’d come to know. His hair was down and in his face, he was quiet, he talked to Aleks - that fact alone was weird enough - but adding that to the fact he wanted to just knock out, buy a downer, the fact he was in Aleks’ desk chair; something was wrong with him, it was obvious enough, and despite his best instincts and efforts, Aleks was worried. He set the two sandwiches onto a plate he pulled from the cabinet and glanced at the clock. It’d been fifteen minutes of him slowly puttering around the kitchen - James was probably feeling something around now. As an afterthought, he grabbed a coke from the fridge and brought it up with him - balancing the plate and beer in his two hands and holding the can of soda to his body with his elbow. When he opened his door, James had his head leaned on the back of the chair, hair spilling down, eyes open, but vacant. He didn’t seem to notice the sound of the door shutting, but as Aleks edged around the chair, he could feel James’ watching him. 

“Here, if you get hungry, or whatever,” Aleks said, and set the plate down in front of him. He grabbed half the sandwich and sat back down on his bed again. 

“Thanks,” James said, but didn’t move to take a sandwich. Aleks just grunted in response, wiping any crumbs that fell onto the floor. He’d vacuum tomorrow or something. The radio was still playing, loud enough that his dad would probably get mad when he got home, but it was filling the silence, at least. Aleks finished his sandwich and tossed the crusts back on the plate. 

“How’s it feeling?” He asked. James turned his head to look at him slowly. 

“Better,” James answered, voice not slurring yet. It probably would by the peak of the dose, but for now, he was still more or less coherent. “Feels warm.” 

“Yeah, they’re good at that,” Aleks agreed, and let the silence lapse over them again. He may be a little worried, but he wasn’t going to let James know that. He could keep his pride that much. It wasn’t until Aleks was flipping through a magazine, turning it this way and that to get a better angle at the girls pictured in it, that James spoke again. 

“You were right,” He said, and it was quiet. Aleks raised his eyebrows and flipped another page, suddenly not paying any attention to his magazine at all. 

“‘Bout what?” Aleks asked.   
“Steve,” James said, and then grunted, sitting up for the first time in at least twenty minutes. “He’s gonna keep cheating.” 

“Yep” Aleks agreed, just a little bit cooly. James pushed his hair back, and sighed loudly. 

“You don’t have to be a dick, right now. I just broke up with him,” He said, and Aleks nearly dropped the magazine. James watched his reaction - which he kept as carefully to a minimum as he could - and then continued: “I mean, I deserve it, but just - later, alright? You can be a dick to me later.” 

Aleks took a moment to digest that. James and Steve were such a couple at school, they had been together since freshman year. Their ups and downs were carefully followed gossip. Honestly, if they broke up, Aleks would have expected it to be a big explosion, and, well, he would have expected Steve to break up with James, not the other way around. James seemed to forgive him for everything, from blowing him off on dates to fucking other people. 

“You know, I just figured Stacy could give him something I couldn’t. Just kind of thought that was how it was gonna be,” James continued, even though Aleks hadn’t asked. “Dude, can I lie down? I won’t make a pass at you.” 

“Oh. Yeah, I guess,” Aleks said, and scooted over. His bed wasn’t exactly big, but with him squished against the wall, James managed to lay down on his side without touching Aleks at all. 

“And then you were yelling at me, and leaving. And, like, I like who I am around you a lot more than who I am around Steve. Like - jealous, and angry, and an asshole,” James paused to yawn. “Feels really warm. Like ‘m sinking. Ludes feel that way for you too?”

“Yeah, like you’re in a perfect bed,” Aleks answered absently, still mostly focused on what James was saying. He was curious, but he didn’t want to press - didn’t want James to think he cared too much. He was, guiltily, happy that James had broken up with Steve, but that didn’t just magically fix everything. Finally, he decided to just prod the subject once. “So you just broke up with him?” 

“Yeah. I got tired of feeling like an asshole, just told him it was done after school. Went to get something from you. I don’t want to be awake to regret it and call him,” James said. “It sucks, you know? Hurts.” He had to be high to talk about his feelings so openly, Aleks knew that, but he was kind of glad. He was glad he’d agreed to sell to James, glad he’d let him stay over. It wasn’t like they were getting together now, he knew that, but if James went back to Steve now, he might never get out of it - and James deserved better, even if he was a dick sometimes. 

“Yeah,” Aleks agreed quietly, and then awkwardly, patted James hair. That earned him a giggle, and James’ hand was swatting him away. 

“You don’t have to feel sorry for me,” James said, smile on his face. That would be the quaaludes. 

“I’ll be a dick to you later,” Aleks said, and James giggled again, huffing quietly into Aleks bed. 

“Fair enough,” James said, and yawned again. Aleks let the silence return, busy digesting what had just happened. James had never said sorry, didn’t try to make it up to Aleks, but he admitted it was well deserved, at least. When he glanced over to check on James again, the man was breathing slowly and deeply, asleep. He’d probably sleep till 1 or 2 am, and then Aleks could tell him to drive home. After a couple more minutes, he ran his fingers through James’ hair again, petting him lightly as he slept. It may have been a little creepy, but it felt like the right thing to do. He suspected James was a little lost without Steve, but he was, dare he even think it, proud of him for standing up to the man. The radio kept on playing in the background, and Aleks settled with his back to the wall, flipping through his magazine again. It’d be a long night, but he didn’t mind it. Not even a bit.

**Author's Note:**

> I still have more I want to write more in the series! Let me know if anyone is interested, or if anyone wants to prompt me!


End file.
